The Growth and Changing Purpose of Leisure Time
The Growth and Changing Purpose of Leisure Time
This page develops patterns of leisure growth and changing preferences in leisure. It uses graphics based on global regions as well as a more detailed focus on American leisure activity to develop an insight into trends that vary based on location, socio-economic group and gender.
The growth and changing purpose of leisure time for societies in different geographic and developmental contexts
Defining Leisure
Leisure refers to the time we spend not working and includes family time, quiet time, sport, recreation socialising and travelling on holidays.
Influences
Leisure is influenced by social and economic factors, with both cultural and development contexts having a major influence on the purpose and forms of leisure people enjoy. Leisure time is also influenced by demographic factors such as age and gender as well as income.
Patterns
Globally, most regions of the world have experienced a rise in leisure time. With development and higher income levels, people have more choice and time to dedicate to non-work activities. This trend is clearly visible in tourism participation with regions such as Asia experiencing huge growth in tourism.
In the USA, leisure time in terms of hours per week has not changed significantly in the last 100 years. It has increased from an average of 42 hours a week to just 43 hours. However, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, leisure time for women has fallen in comparison to men. In 1993 research showed both genders enjoyed the same amount of leisure time per day, approximately 5.2 hours. However, by 2016 men's leisure time had increased to 5.5 hours and women's leisure time had fallen to 4.7 hours.
The reasons for this gap relate to how women often carry a double burden of work. They now enjoy more opportunities for careers but continue to carry more of the burden of home chores and child care.
Leisure also changes over time. Children enjoy most leisure time but this drops away as they grow up with working adults generally experiencing the lowest levels of leisure time. When people retire leisure time increases but the forms of leisure change. Early retirees spend the most time with friends but after age 70 they begin to spend more time alone and socialising with friends reduces. Of course for the elderly, health and reduced mobility over time means that their options for leisure diminish with time
Geographical Contexts
The geography of a location plays a key role in influencing leisure time. The development of the country, whether the place is urban or rural, connected or remote, wealthy or underserved all determine the leisure choices people have.
In developing countries the level of investment in leisure facilities is lacking and so people have fewer choices for leisure. This is also true for low-income neighbourhoods and socially deprived neighbourhoods. Authorities lack the funds for investment in a wide range of leisure facilities and the income of householdss restricts choice and access to facilities.
In urban centres, leisure might evolve more around entertainment and retail. In contrast, rural areas may focus more on rural economy and the outdoors. In addition, the elderly in rural areas may also feel more cut-off and unable to participate in a wide range of leisure activities.
Finally, national culture as well as climate plays a role in leisure. In some countries spending time with family and friends is an important part of leisure time and public spaces like in Italy are designed with this in mind. For other countries, this is less important. The climate also plays a role. Colder countries have developed winter sports but in more temperate or tropical countries winter sports do not feature.
The Increasing Role of Technology in Leisure
Technology also plays an important role in how leisure time is changing. The graphs below show the growth in screen time for the average child growing up in Australia. As screen time choices, including mobile phones, the internet, tablets, game consoles and TVs increase so too does our choice of leisure.
Source: ABC Net Australia
In the USA, between 2005 and 2016 e-leisure increased by 10% with out-of-home leisure falling 7%, with using computers and gaming growing the fastest. Today mobile phones, social media and streaming services take up much of our leisure time and this also corresponds to us spending more money on these activities.
These trends are not exclusive to just HICs and are also present in most MICs and a growing number of LICS.
